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For all of you folks out there who need to get your hands on some quality Shodokan Aikido Videos (like me) here is a link where you can get a lot of seminar, instructional and tournament videos on DVD or VHS from the JAA/USA - http://www.tomiki.org/videos.html

For those who would like to get an idea of just how Aikido competition is done and what it looks like, this is a great place to start.

If you had to recommend only one to a person looking for a good general overview of shodokan which would it be?

Bronson

"A pacifist is not really a pacifist if he is unable to make a choice between violence and non-violence. A true pacifist is able to kill or maim in the blink of an eye, but at the moment of impending destruction of the enemy he chooses non-violence."

Being all done in the U.S. I believe all the instructional videos are in English.

Due to Paypal limitations regarding my country and credit cards I haven't been able to order any of the Videos as yet, so I have to go the long way of filling out actual forms, faxing etc.

Bronson, though I haven't seen em yet, based on the descriptions I'd say the second video in the list - 5/99 Chicago, IL Senseis Nettles, Nevin, Vargas and Watanabe.

This one covers two of the three main katas that are at the core of Shodokan - The Randori no Kata or Junanahon and the Go Shin no Kata or Koryu Dai San. These 2 kata also cover part of the grading requirements from 5th Kyu to 3rd Dan.

The randori training tips and drills should give an insight into the resistance based randori that we employ for training and in Shiai. So I guess the second is the best bet for an overview, although the 1st and 3rd videos in the list also has a lot of stuff regarding the kyu grade syllabus that is not in the video I just outlined. Ideally the first 3 videos should cover all the gradings and the randori stuff.

Shodokan Hombu should make a documentary of your style. I think it is misunderstood more often than not and I know that I would be interested in learning more about shodokan than I would be in actually learning shodokan technique....nothing against you're technique, I'm just happy with what I've got

Bronson

"A pacifist is not really a pacifist if he is unable to make a choice between violence and non-violence. A true pacifist is able to kill or maim in the blink of an eye, but at the moment of impending destruction of the enemy he chooses non-violence."

I really wish they would - closest is Stan Pranin's video although I know Nariyama Shihan isn't thrilled with it. I can also guess why. NHK has made a feature revolving around Alan Higgs who started training with Nariyama Shihan in the late 70s after doing Olympic level Judo. This was pretty interesting and covered alot of what Shodokan is all about.

Yeah, but you guys are always having to defend your training methods and whatnot. I know I had a lot of misconceptions about the "evil" style that does competition. Thanks to you shodokan guys here on AikiWeb I now have a much better picture of what you're doing than I did before. For people like me It'd be nice to have some way to get the straight poop and to see a different aspect of aikido.

Bronson

"A pacifist is not really a pacifist if he is unable to make a choice between violence and non-violence. A true pacifist is able to kill or maim in the blink of an eye, but at the moment of impending destruction of the enemy he chooses non-violence."